| Huizhou | |
|---|---|
| 徽州話 /徽州话 | |
| Native to | China |
| Region | Huizhou, southernAnhui, neighbouring portions ofZhejiang andJiangxi |
Native speakers | 5.4 million (2021)[1] |
| Varieties |
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| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | czh |
| Glottolog | huiz1242 |
| Linguasphere | 79-AAA-da |
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| This article containsIPA phonetic symbols. Without properrendering support, you may seequestion marks, boxes, or other symbols instead ofUnicode characters. For an introductory guide on IPA symbols, seeHelp:IPA. | |
| Huizhou Chinese | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Simplified Chinese | 徽州话 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Traditional Chinese | 徽州話 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Hanyu Pinyin | Huīzhōuhuà | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Alternative Chinese name | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Simplified Chinese | 徽语 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Traditional Chinese | 徽語 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Hanyu Pinyin | Huīyǔ | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Huizhou (Chinese:徽州话), or theHui dialect (Chinese:徽语), is a group ofSinitic languages spoken in and around the historical region ofHuizhou (for which it is named), in about ten or so mountainouscounties in southernAnhui, plus a few more in neighbouringZhejiang andJiangxi.
Although the Hui area is small compared with other Chinese dialect groups, it displays a very high degree of internal variation, and the lect is also situated near many mutually unintelligible varieties, making its classification difficult.[2] It has been previously grouped withHuai,Wu, andGan, and some even believe that it does not even constitute a singular language family.[3]
Huizhou Chinese was originally classified asLower Yangtze Mandarin but it is currently classified separately from it.[4]TheChinese Academy of Social Sciences supported the separation of Huizhou from Lower Yangtze Mandarin in 1987.[5] Its classification is disputed, with some linguists, such as Matisoff classifying it asWu Chinese, others such as Bradley (2007) asGan, and still others setting it apart as a primary branch of Chinese.
A reconstruction of Common Huizhou byCoblin has found that the lect group is likely areal, not a"genetically related" group of varieties, and is merely a useful category to collect these hard-to-classify varieties. He notes that they do not belong to any other top-level group due to the lack ofshared innovations with any, and that they do not have any shared innovations among themselves. He also notes that the above conclusion would imply that his reconstruction is not aproto-system, but instead an "analytical device or template".[3]
During theMing andQing dynasties,Jianghuai speakers moved into Hui dialect areas.[6]
Some works of literature produced inYangzhou, such asQingfengzha, a novel, contain Jianghuai Mandarin. People in Yangzhou identified by the dialect they speak, locals spoke the dialect, as opposed to sojourners, who spoke other varieties like Huizhou orWu. This led to the formation of identity based on one's dialect. Large numbers of merchants from Huizhou lived in Yangzhou and effectively were responsible for keeping the town afloat.[7] Merchants in the later imperial period also sponsored operas and performances in the Hui dialect.[8]
Zhengzhang Shangfang divided the Hui languages into five subgroups, which are also used in theLanguage Atlas of China:[9][10]
Huizhou varieties differ from township to township.[11] People in different townships, towns, etc. (even in one county) often cannot speak with one another.
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Phonologically speaking, Hui is noted for its massive loss ofsyllable codas, including -i, -u, andnasals:
| Character | Meaning | Hui ofTunxi | Wu ofShanghai | Huai (Jianghuai) ofHefei | Standard Mandarin |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 燒 | burn | /ɕiɔ/ | /sɔ/ | /ʂɔ/ | /ʂɑu/ |
| 柴 | firewood | /sa/ | /za/ | /tʂʰɛ/ | /tʂʰai/ |
| 綫 | line | /siːɛ/ | /ɕi/ | /ɕĩ/ | /ɕiɛn/ |
| 張 | sheet | /tɕiau/ | /tsɑ̃/ | /tʂɑ̃/ | /tʂɑŋ/ |
| 網 | web | /mau/ | /mɑ̃/ | /wɑ̃/ | /wɑŋ/ |
| 檻 | threshold | /kʰɔ/ | /kʰɛ/ | /kʰã/ | /kʰan/ |
Many Hui dialects havediphthongs with ahigher lengthened first part. For example,話 ("speech") is/uːɜ/ inXiuning County (Standard Chinese/xuɑ/),園 ("yard") is/yːɛ/ inXiuning County (Standard Chinese/yɛn/);結 ("knot") is/tɕiːaʔ/ inYi County (Standard Chinese/tɕiɛ/),約 ("agreement") is/iːuʔ/ inYi County (Standard Chinese/yɛ/). A few areas take this to extremes. For example, Likou inQimen County has/fũːmɛ̃/ for飯 ("rice") (Standard Chinese/fan/), with the/m/ appearing directly as a result of the lengthened,nasalized/ũː/.
Because nasal codas have mostly been lost, Hui reuses the儿/-r/ ending as adiminutive. For example, in theTunxi dialect,索 "rope" appears as/soːn/ from/soʔ/ +/-r/.
{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: postscript (link)Formerly considered to be part of the Jianghuai dialect of Mandarin, but now considered by many to be a separate major variety of Chinese. Dialects are reported to differ greatly from each other. Different from the Huizhou dialect of...
For this reason, the Chinese Academy of Social Science suggested in 1987 that two new groups, the Jin and the Hui, be separated from the northwestern and the Jiang-Huai Mandarin subgroups. Distinctive Features: Mandarin dialects are...
According to Hirata, however, Hui is composed of many layers: its dialects are spoken in an area originally occupied by the Yue i* tribe, suggestive of a possible substrate, later to be overlaid by migrations from Northern China in the Medieval Nanbeichao period and the Tang and Song dynasties. This was followed by the Jiang-Huai Mandarin dialects of the migrants who arrived during the Ming and Qing periods, and more recently by Wu dialects in particular, acquired by peripatetic Hui merchants who have represented an active...
Some grammatical features of Yangzhou dialect are shared with Jianghuai Mandarin. Others may be of more limited usage but are used in Dingyuan County (the setting of Qingfengzha), which belongs to the same subgroup of Jianghuai.
Sino-Tibetan branches | |||||
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| WesternHimalayas (Himachal, Uttarakhand,Nepal,Sikkim) |
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| EasternHimalayas (Tibet,Bhutan,Arunachal) | |||||
| Myanmar and Indo- Burmese border |
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| East andSoutheast Asia |
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| Dubious (possible isolates,Arunachal) |
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